Those protesting Gauri murder are political opportunists, says Ram Madhav

Shivamogga, Sept 18: BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav on Sunday said that dragging Prime Minister Narendra Modi into the killings of senior journalist Gauri Lankesh and scholar M M Kalburgi is foolishness as it is the duty of the state government to ensure security to every citizen in a democratic set-up.

“Modi is being dragged into the killings in Karnataka. It is utter foolishness. Then, what is the responsibility of Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah? Madhav questioned and said this is the best example of failure of the state government in maintaining law and order.

As per Article 21 of the Constitution, it is the primary duty of the state government to ensure the safety of people, he said.

Madhav was speaking after inaugurating a two-day state-level symposium on ‘Integral Humanism’ advocated by the erstwhile Bharatiya Jan Sangh leader the late Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya as part of his birth centenary celebrations here.

Madhav said people have been staging protests against Gauri’s murder only to seek political opportunities and not for anything else. Nobody including journalists, writers, scholars or activists deserve to be killed in society. At the same time, there is no point in staging protests condemning the killings of a few people. Those who are protesting the killing of Gauri should have done so when several Hindu activists were murdered in the state. This kind of selective protest is not fair, he said.

The BJP leader said that in the last two years, 12 people Hindu activists have been killed in the state. Those who are condemning the killings of Kalburgi and Gauri did not even condemn the murders of those who were killed for Hindutva, which is unfortunate, he added.

The death of IAS officer D K Ravi was twisted as suicide. But, DySPs M K Ganapathi and Kallappa Handibag ended their lives due to suffocating political environment. Sub-inspector Mallikarjun Bande was killed in a shootout. Were they not human beings in the eyes of those who are fighting for Gauri and Kalburgi,? he questioned.